


Nightmares and Hugs

by yanderekirklandchan



Series: The Dumping Ground [1]
Category: The Dumping Ground
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Hugs, Nightmares, Wetting the bed, mentions of bipolar disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 20:34:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13911708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yanderekirklandchan/pseuds/yanderekirklandchan
Summary: Tyler wakes up from a haunting nightmare...((Set in the later series))





	Nightmares and Hugs

Waking up wasn't something that Tyler usually enjoyed, you had to be crazy to like the sensation of being wrenched from the peaceful, restful world of dreams back into your life's problems. But normally when he'd just had a nightmare waking up was a relief.

Not this time though. No, Tyler only felt numb, with a creeping feeling of dread, doom and despair left behind from the all too real dream he'd just had. Perhaps it was a feature of being older but he never, or at least very rarely, had dreams about monsters or volcanoes or going to school with no trousers on.

Replacing these were dreams that were definitely less glamorous but far more scarring, to him at least. Like dreams about messing up and everyone hating him or how secretly all his friends actually despised him and only acted nice because they felt sorry for him or, most hauntingly, getting sick just like his mum.

Over time he'd come to terms with his mother's illness and had accepted that he didn't need to be in constant fear that he'd end up the same. But occasionally something like this would happen, a reminder like a slap in the face that bipolar disorder wasn't just another make believe childhood monster, it was real. And not only was it real but he had an increased chance of getting it because it did have a genetic trend.

He thought he'd gotten over it. No, that was a lie, he knew he wasn't over it and he never would be, it was scary. But he wasn't hung up about it like he was sometimes when he was young. It was all because of stupid school and the PSHEE session, that's why he'd had the nightmare.

They'd studied mental illness and during it Tyler felt like someone must have derived a personal hell for him especially. He knew it wasn't a big deal really, lots of people had mental illnesses, at least more than you'd expect. But he just couldn't get all the memories of his mum out of his head. He knew first hand how scary she was sometimes, how sad she got, how much trouble she'd be in. He knew how distressing it was for those close to you.

He knew how terrified she was, because, especially when it'd gotten really bad, what was more distressing than her lapses of control was the few moments when she was back to normal. When she curled up in a corner and cried the most heart felt sob he'd ever heard and hugged him close saying she was sorry and that she hadn't meant anything she'd said or done and that he was precious and shouldn't have to put up with this. She'd said it would all be okay again soon but he'd seen how scared she was. He didn't want to be like that and he definitely didn't want to put the people he cared about through what he'd gone through.

When he was in class and they were talking about mental illnesses he felt hyper aware. It didn't matter that they weren't talking about bipolar disorder specifically and it didn't matter that he knew consciously that no one was looking at him, no one even knew his story. But it just felt like everyone was staring, sneering. All the people who looked scared or disgusted at the topic were looking at him, all the people with pitying looks and all the people laughing at the stupid loonies were staring at him.

He'd had a panic attack three times that day which didn't exactly help his self image. Tyler didn't tell anyone, he never did. They'd go away anyway, there was nothing the teachers could do so why tell them, waste their time, make a fuss and humiliate himself? He'd excused himself for the bathroom one of the times and just sat out the other two.

Tyler closed his eyes in an attempt to wane off the memories. It was not a good idea, however, as he was flooded with thoughts of the nightmare instead. It hadn't made much sense now he thought back on it, dreams rarely did.

But he knew some of them had been edited memories from his childhood with his mother, changed to distort the memories to be even worse, changed so that his mother hated him and blamed him, wanted him gone which she never did, even if she said horrible things to him sometimes when she wasn't feeling alright she always made sure to reassure him of how much he meant to him when she was clear headed. In his dream everything was his fault and everyone knew it and hated him for it.

At some point in the dream it had become him in his mother's place. And he was acting way worse than his mum ever did, real crazy and vicious. He was trying to control his body but he couldn't, he couldn't control what he said or did or felt only watched trapped within his body. He was hurting everyone close to him, Jody, Mike, everyone.

Then they called for him to be taken away and an ambulance came but it was police driving it and they took him to some big white hospital with barred doors and padded walls where they hooked him up to lots of machines. The last thing he remembered from before waking up was the insane screams of the people in the cells around him. Throughout the whole dream he'd been slowly being washed away by a flood.

Tyler shivered, feeling cold all of a sudden and definitely not having recovered from his dream. It was then that he realised how sticky he felt. He frowned before paling as realisation dawned on him. No, no, no, he was way too old to be wetting the bed! He clamboured to the floor to closer inspect the situation and sure enough the bed had a damp puddle on it and his boxers were wet too.

He cursed under his breath, beating himself up internally. This was stupid. He was a teenager not some baby! If anyone found out, his life would be over. Especially if it was Ryan who found out. Floss wouldn't be much better. In fact no one could find out. Quickly and quietly, Tylar took his sheets and crept to the laundry area.

On his way he noted to himself that it was four am and still dark outside, hopefully no one decided it was a good time for a nighttime drink. Thankfully, he made it to discard his damp sheets and retrieve new ones without any company.

Tyler was on his way back to his room, careful to skip every creeky step and floorboard. There was an abrupt creeping sound, cutting like a knife through the silence of the building. Tyler's heart hammered wildly and he felt on the verge of a panic attack. He held his breath and tucked himself away into the darkest part of the hallway, knowing he didn't have time to hide.  
*******  
Jody yawned, shuffling tiredly from her room. She was far too tired to be going for midnight escapades and had every intention of remaining in bed until at least ten. It seemed that her body had other ideas. She'd woken up with an unbelievably dry mouth and a thirst that was more appropriate for someone stuck in a desert. She tried to ignore it but couldn't get to sleep so finally acquiesced to her body's please for water.

Her vision was bleary with tiredness and her mind was still half asleep so it took her a moment to realise that she wasn't alone in the corridor. She definitely didn't jump when she saw a tall, looming figure in the shadows. Nope, definitely not. It was a relief nevertheless to see that it was only Tyler. A rather terrified looking Tyler that was cowering in the shadows and clutching spare sheets.

Jody sighed, realising what must have happened. It took her just as little time to take Tyler's hand and start dragging him down with her to the kitchen. When she get there she started to talk while pouring herself a drink.

"Just for the record, you don't have to be ashamed, you know."  
Tyler only snorted cynically in response.  
Jody sighed, turning to face him "I'm serious. First of all, everyone does it. Secondly, it's only natural so why he ashamed? Third, come here." She said, pulling him into a hug. She smiled when his tense body slowly relaxed and she could feel some of the anxiety and stress seep away, at least.

She pulled back to look at him, lifting Tyler's chin when he continued to hang his head. Her hands started to rub a comforting pattern against his arms as she wished she could make everything better, even though she didn't know what's wrong.

"Hey." She whispered with a small smile. His lips twitched upward slightly in return which was enough for her. She wanted to go with the instinctual 'you okay?' but that'd be stupid so she opted instead for "You gonna tell me what's wrong?"

That elicited a staggered sigh from Tyler "Nightmare." He said simply, voice husky with sleep. Jody was expecting the answer obviously but still squeezed his arms comfortingly.  
"Do you want to talk about it?"  
Tyler hesitated before slumping against her again, wrapping his arms around Jody's waist "It was about mum and her sickness, seemed like all of the most awful memories from that time combined together. Except I knew I was to blame and mum knew and hated me. It was all my fault. Then I got sick... and..." he shuddered, trailing off. "It just felt so real, Jodes." He finished softly.

Jody could only hold him tight, wishing she could erase the hurt and worry and confusion and everything else less than perfect in his life. "Tyler, you're not sick.  
You're safely home and everything's okay. Your mums getting better too. Everything's fine, okay?" She felt Tyler nod against her shoulder. She let out a small sigh "If you're really worried about being sick then you should see someone about it. A professional."

"I know. But it's like... like that cat thingy. If I don't go to see someone about it then I don't definitely have or not have it, I just don't know. But if I see someone and I find out I have it then that's it. I know that's not how it works... it's just... like chickens I suppose. The free range ones don't know they're being raised for slaughter, or at least they know less than the other type cus they're just living their lives. I don't know. I'm not making sense, I'm tired, okay?"

"No, I understand you, Tyler. Just... okay let's start at the worst case scenario and go backwards. So imagine you go and find out you're ill, then they tell you how to make it better. That's still better than being ill and not doing anything to help it as it gets worse. But you don't have to worry cus I'm 99% sure that you don't have bipolar disorder, okay? I care about you so I've researched it and sorry to tell you but you don't fit the bill. But you'll make yourself sick with all this worrying. You need to see someone so you can bring a stop to all this anxiety."

She pulled back to look at him again "And whatever happens, no matter how bad or good or plain boring, I'll be here with you and for you. Always. Okay?"  
Tyler gave her a small but real smile which made Jody's heart melt "Okay."

**Author's Note:**

> So what did you think? Probably nothing because there's probably no one reading this so :/ but if I you are actually reading then I'm impredftd and grateful, this took me a while to write. Please comment if you liked this and want some more cus I have some ideas for other fic.


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